This website uses cookies primarily for visitor analytics. Certain pages will ask you to fill in contact details to receive additional information. On these pages you have the option of having the site log your details for future visits. Indicating you want the site to remember your details will place a cookie on your device. To view our full cookie policy, please click here. You can also view it at any time by going to our Contact Us page.

Awareness Campaign aims to stamp out bearing counterfeits

18 November 2010

Product counterfeiting has grown substantially across the globe in the last two decades. While there has been widespread reporting on the subject as it relates to the consumer industry, a far greater risk actually lies in industrial counterfeiting of safety-critical products.

To draw attention to the issue, the World Bearing Association (WBA) has launched an awareness campaign to inform about potential safety hazards that arise from counterfeit bearings.

The WBA anti-counterfeiting information campaign will reach out to various audiences via e-mails, website banners, social media and the campaign site itself www.stopfakebearings.com. At the website, interested consumers can learn more about threats imposed by illegal counterfeiting and what is being done to stop it.

The Schaeffler Group, with its bearing brands INA and FAG, has been fighting counterfeiting for many years. “We are seeking close contact with public authorities and are cooperating with associations and other industrial companies to draw attention to the issue. In doing so, we strictly adhere to a consistent zero tolerance strategy. This means that we examine and pursue each and every case, also seemingly petty offences – worldwide!” said Dr. Juergen M. Geissinger, President and CEO of Schaeffler Group.

Counterfeiting also violates intellectual property, such as patents and trademarks. Because counterfeits look like and are marketed as genuine products, it normally takes a trained expert to identify them. The competent authorities and the manufacturer’s brand concerned can also be contacted.

“Our initiative is aimed at sensitising the public on the dangers associated with counterfeits,” says James W. Griffith, WBA president and president and chief executive officer of The Timken Company. “The WBA is therefore intensifying its anti-counterfeiting initiatives – that means information for customers on the one hand and consistent prosecution of offenders through the competent authorities on the other.”